Synopsis:Kensur Yeshe Tupden addresses crucial issues of Buddhist soteriology to provide one of the richest presentations of Tibetan oral philosophy yet published in English.

Does a bodhisattva`s initial direct cognition of emptiness differ from subsequent ones? Can one improve a nondualistic understanding of the unconditioned and, if so, what role might subtle states of concentration play in the process? In material collected by Klein over a seven year period, the Gelugpa lama Kensur Yeshe Tupden answers these questions and Klein`s introduction to his commentary surveys oral genres associated with Tibetan textual study. The volume concludes with a translation of the text on which Kensur bases his discussion of the Perfection of Wisdom chapter in Lama Tsong Khapa`s Illumination of Chandrakirti`s Thought.

"The text that is the subject of Professor Klein`s study is one of the most important in the history of Tibetan Buddhism. Her innovative approach will make the work of interest not only to scholars, for whom it will be essential reading, but more generally to anyone interested in the Tibetan interpretation of emptiness." Jose Cabezon.